Lindsay Reid
Newcastle-based Poet

Faith

My faith has a huge influence on my life but sometimes I struggle to define it. Perhaps this poem helps to explain how I feel:

Awkward

But of course
Nobody believes that anymore –
Then she catches sight
Of my face,
Falters, blushes,
Makes an excuse -

I’m sorry
I didn’t know you were religious.
I’m not
I want to say
But how then to explain
The God that I believe in?

A God of fire and flame
Who reached down 
To our world
Healing lepers
Mending broken hearts
With a touch like cool water. 

I often wish I could hide,
Withdraw, avoiding
Embarrassed silences -
Not that I think
A God like that
Needs defending

But if I believe in a God
Who has touched
Each heart with eternity -
At least let me face
The awkward questions
For His sake. 

So what do I believe? I believe in a God who is loving and gracious, mighty and merciful, just and generous. I believe that God sent His Son Jesus into the world to save us because He loved us and cared for us and because humanity is broken and sinful. I believe every one of us has felt that conflict inside us; wanting to do the right thing but pulled towards the wrong. I believe that Jesus came into the world so that we can be forgiven, so that we can know God as we were created to know Him and so that one day we can go home to be with Him, where we will be fully known and fully loved.

That is not to say that I find trusting God easy. Sometimes I think my life journey’s message could be summed up as ‘Life is hard, but God is faithful’. One of my favourite verses is Psalm 46:1 ‘God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble’. This means that no matter what happens to me I am not alone. I always have somewhere safe to shelter. 

I also believe that God is changing me. As I spend time with Him and seek to live the way He wants, I am growing spiritually. Through my communion with Him, I become more like Jesus, less wounded, more whole. Some more favourite verses are these: ‘Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we look not to things that are seen, but things that are unseen, for what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal.’  (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).  

So how does this inform my writing? Well, I believe that God is a Creator God, and that the desire and impulse to create comes from Him and draws us close to Him. I do write some overtly spiritual poems, but most of my poems are written for people with many different belief systems. I hope that in those poems echoes of the way I perceive life around me can be heard: a world that is not as it should be, but alongside this a delight in beauty, in love, in the resilience and joy of human beings despite the pain. 

If anyone is interested in reading my overtly Christian poems, small booklets can be found here or here.

And if you want to know more about what I believe, just get in touch!